May 2017 Board Meeting Highlights

May 2017 Board Meeting Highlights

Posted on 05/10/2017

Mechanic and bus driver, Nicholas Harting, was honored by the Converse County School District #1 school board as the Spotlight Employee at their regular meeting held May 9, 2017. Nick has currently completed his Automotive Service Excellence in school bus repair and is in the process of becoming master certified in school bus repair. According to transportation director John Bartling, Nick shows up to work every day with a smile on his face and makes a difference to the transportation staff and the students in our district. Congratulations Nick!

Douglas Middle School and Douglas High School welding and metals classes showcased their projects for the board. Seventh grade class projects included junk sculptures, strap projects, and PVC projects. More intricate 8th grade projects were adjustable pipe stands, a high stool, and a custom fire pit.

High school projects are completed from blue prints and ranged from Jack stands, to pliers, to a fire pit, and a park bench. The park bench was a practice project for the State SkillsUSA fabrication contest in which Douglas placed 2nd and 3rd. Processes applied in the projects include gas metal arc welding and shielded metal arc welding. Students in Welding 3 and 4 are tested over their ability to perform welding certification tests. Students are held to the same criteria and standards set by the American Welding Society, and they build a quality foundation before entering college or tech school.

There were no items on the recreation board agenda other than the approval of the prior minutes and approval of the financials. A hearing was held regarding the recreation, EWC BOCES, and NE and NW BOCES Mills. There was no public comment.

During the regular board meeting, the 1/2 EWC BOCES mill, 1/10 NW BOCES, 4/10 NE BOCES, and 1 recreation mill were approved. The bid for the wireless upgrade was indefinitely postponed, and the bid for the foundation stabilization project was approved upon recommendation of director Jim Cobb. A support services contract addendum was also approved.

Finance director Tracy Boner shared a preliminary budget review with the board for the 2017-18 proposed budget. The budget reflected the cuts made due to declining enrollment and legislative reductions.

Both the DMS and DHS activity handbooks were presented for board review as was proposed policy JJ-R. The policy will be sent back to the policy committee for additional revision.

The district IBN agreement that was presented to all staff by email and in a meeting held on May 3rd at DHS was approved. Board member Mark Curtis gave a short review of the process to the board noting that it was a more difficult process than many had anticipated, but that it went well overall.

All other regular meeting action items were approved as were the personnel recommendations for ESY, summer school, summer building and grounds, and classified staff.